Rollins sturdy as an oak for United Way

TIM MEEKS/THE INTELLIGENCER
Local business icon and philanthropist Maurice Rollins rakes mulch around the new red oak tree planted in Jane Forrester Park in Belleville to commemorate 10 years of the Maurice Rollins Leadership Challenge Fund for the United Way Quinte & Prince Edward. Looking on are family members and United Way Executive Director Kathy Murphy.

When it comes to giving back to his community, Maurice Rollins has been as sturdy as an oak tree. So it seemed fitting the United Way Hastings & Prince Edward decided to honour the local business icon and philanthropist for his generosity by planting a red oak tree with a commemorative plaque at Jane Forrester Park in Belleville Thursday morning. Since 2008, Rollins has generously supported a Leadership Challenge Fund (LCF) designed to encourage leadership level gifts. A leadership gift is an annual donation made by an individual of $1,200 or more. To date, Rollins himself has contributed $500,000 which is directly responsible for helping the United Way to leverage a further $1.75 million in leadership giving from the community. “Mr. Rollins has run, for 10 years, the Maurice Rollins Leadership Challenge. It started as $25,000 he would match for gifts of $1,000 and up and that started back in 2008. Throughout the years he upped that from $25,000 to $50,000 and in the last three years he’s been supporting $100,000 in matched donations from leaders and leadership donations are $1,200 and up, so he does an incredible job of leveraging a lot of support for us and I think he’s leveraged over $1.75 million with the Leadership Challenge, so that’s very impressive,” said United Way executive director Kathy Murphy. “We wanted to do a commemoration and dedication of a red oak tree and make sure that we ensure Mr. Rollins knows that his contribution to the community and those that are vulnerable in the community is greatly appreciated and we wanted to recognize it with this small gesture.” Rollins, who was on hand along with several family members for the dedication, said he supports United Way because they support so many agencies and most of the money raised goes to where it’s needed most. “I support the United Way because they support so many different agencies, something like 40 to 50 of them, and that’s really important,” Rollins said. “And, secondly, they do it cheaply, their overhead is very small in comparison to some of the other charities where upwards of 50 per cent of money goes to administration, and with United Way it’s something like 15 per cent, so that’s the main reasons I do it, the money goes to where it’s needed.” Meanwhile, the United Way’s fundraising drive continues toward its goal of $2 million. “It’s going good, we’re slugging away, we’re probably about just over 30 per cent of our goal of $2 million. We reached $640,000 on Wednesday and that’s without any of the big companies, so I think by the time we round up the 20 we’ll be getting close, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Murphy. “We have a lot of commercial companies, smaller businesses we’re hoping will come around. The agencies we support run campaigns, so those that we support will hopefully come back and support the campaign. The health and social services, teachers, and so on, we haven’t received anything from the teachers yet, but we’re hoping the teachers’ union will come forward. There is all kinds of opportunity out there, we just have to really wave the flag. We don’t really get much in the County, but we’re working with a few people over there to try to generate some activity and get some awareness and, hopefully, get some donations from that area,” Murphy said. The Leadership Challenge Fund is an invaluable means to encourage extraordinary generosity from others. At the onset of the program, United Way Hastings & Prince Edward had a loyal contingent of 67 leaders whose combined gifts equaled $98,043. Today, the organization boasts 138 leaders whose investments unite to $237,676, providing a much needed impact to close to 40 agencies in HPE, supporting at risk youth, the elderly, those living in poverty, and more. To make a leadership donation, and to find out if your donation of $1,200 or more will be matched, please contact Murphy, kmurphy@unitedwayhpe.ca, or by calling 613-962-9531.